Portage County Jail finds a temporary fix for overcrowding

The Portage County Jail was built less than 20 years ago, but it wasn’t designed under the impression that female incarceration would greatly increase. Originally, the facility was built to house 34 female inmates, but the jail has recently needed space for up to 60 at a time. Alyssa Morlacci and Gabriel Kramer investigated the issue of overcrowding and spoke with authorities about a temporary fix.

[rpavideo caption = “Last April, the Portage County Sheriff’s Office planned to have a solution for their overcrowded female population in the jails by December. Eight months later, TV2 reporter Gabriel Kramer spoke with Portage County Sheriff David Doak about his plan to expand the the jail space.”]BBR_07_Kramer_Jail[/rpavideo]

Portage County Jail finds a temporary fix for overcrowding

by Alyssa Morlacci

RAVENNA, OH –The Board of Commissioners is exploring ways to fund a temporary fix for the overcrowding issue in the female wing of the Portage County Jail.

Sheriff David Doak and Major Dale Kelly proposed an expansion plan in late November, which suggests the building of three walls outside of the existing female pod in order to accommodate 16 more beds. The extension will add 20 total beds, however, 4 existing cells will be replaced with a hallway.

This option has found favor, compared to earlier plans about building an entirely new pod. The extension will instead be much smaller and is designed to take advantage of plumbing that already exists.

“I think that’s a great idea,” said County Commissioner Tommie Jo Marsilio. “So, in my mind, the next step is just to figure out a price tag that goes along with this smaller building idea and see what it costs and see if it’s something we can pay for without a sales tax.”

The plan will require construction fees and the addition of another staff member designated to the area. Marsilio estimates the addition will cost between $150,000 and $2.5 million. The county may or may not need to reach out to tax payers depending on this number. During the November meeting, the commissioners, sheriff and major discussed the possibility of imposing a $0.25 percent sales tax.

“Once we are able to associate a cost with this plan, then I think we have to look at our budget and see, you know, is there a source we can tap without adding a sales tax and do that internally at least for now,” Marsilio said.

The solution is estimated to work for about five years before both commissioners and law enforcers suspect the county will need to build a brand new facility.

Overcrowding has been a problem in the female wing of the county jail for nearly two years. The jail was built less than 20 years ago and has 220 spaces, 34 of which were reserved for female inmates.

Earlier this year, officials were able to convert some cells so that the jail could accommodate 46 females. However, the prison has needed space for up to 60 females at a time.

Despite that conversation, the jail has been notified that it is in violation of three federal requirements due to overcrowding. Marsilio hopes the quick and temporary fix can be installed before the jail is sued, which is what happened last time the jail was not complying with regulation.

“The way the jail was originally built, as I understand, it was a federal law suit dictated to the county to ‘get a new jail,’” Marsilio said. “We’re trying to stay in front of this. We’re aware of the problem; we’re working cooperatively and trying to at the smallest price tag possible fix it.”

Doak believes overcrowding is due to a spike in drug and alcohol violations.

“If I could wave a magic wand and stop people from drinking or using drugs, I bet you I we wouldn’t have a percentage of the people we have (in the jail),” Doak said. “Because everything they’re doing, it’s either alcohol related or drug related for about 80 to 90 percent of the cases.”

The commissioners had designated two committees this spring to investigate solutions for the issue, one with the initiative to research construction efforts and the other to look for alternative options.

Mark Frisone, executive director of Family & Community Services Inc., was appointed by the commissioners to the alternative solution committee, which is comprised of about 12 members.

Frisone said the committee has gathered information about community incarceration  from neighboring counties.

“There are lots of models of communities out there like us that very successfully operate programs that allow people to stay in the community at some low level that does not require a jail cell and correction officers,” Frisone said.

He encourages anyone who is interested in joining the committee to contact him at mfrisone@fcsohio.org.

“We the citizens of Portage County are being asked to, you know, don’t just sit around and harp and moan about it, let’s figure out a fix to this,” Frisone said.